BRPI0612514B1 - APPLIANCE FOR CUTTING APPLES - Google Patents

Abstract

apparatus for cutting apples. The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting apples. The cutter uses blades thinner than those known in the art, with a thickness of less than 300 microns, and preferably between 180 and 220 microns. each of the thinner blades is supported against bending, warping or twisting by means of a new hook buckle that rigidly supports the outer end or ends of each of the blades. The hook buckle is rigidly attached to the folded flaps formed at the outer end or ends of each blade and supports the outer ends for the full width of the blades. The hook buckle is supported by an outer support ring and is captured by the outer support ring to prevent rotation of the hook buckle. The thinner blade reduces damage to cells, reduces the amount of sealer or neutralizer needed to decrease or prevent oxidation of enzymes released from cut-off cells, and slows the onset of darkening. A notched blade is used to further reduce the extent of cell damage.

Description

Summary of the Invention Patent for "APPLICATION TO CUT APPLES".

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application claims the benefit and priority of United States Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 692,556, filed June 21, 2005.

BACKGROUND AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the cutting of apples. The present invention is designed to automatically cut apples into wedges for use in packaged fruit salads in restaurants or packaged cut fruits sold, for example, in supermarkets. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for optimizing the cut of apples, which results in minimal damage to the apple cell which, in turn, extends the shelf life of the packaged apple slices. Demand for packaged fruit salad or packaged fresh cut apples has grown tremendously. Consumers having less time available for meal preparation and more concern about eating fresh fruit have increased the demand for packaged fruit salads. The only major problem in the sale of packaged cut apples is that apple slices turn brown over time and become unacceptable to consumers. Darkening of freshly cut apples is caused by the oxidation of one or more enzymes released from the apple cells that are cut or broken during a cutting process. The enzymes are liquid and tend to spread through the surface of freshly cut apple. Once such enzymes oxidize, they become brown. This oxidation process is described in U.S. Patent No. 6,054,160, from column 1, line 13 to column 3, line 16, incorporated herein by reference. The prior art includes various attempts to delay or prevent a dimming of sliced apples.

For example, the prior art includes a variety of liquids that are applied to sliced apples in an attempt to neutralize enzymes or otherwise delay the onset of browning (see U.S. Patents 5,922,382, 5,914,143, 5,939,117 , 5,922,382, 6,054,160. The basic disadvantage of this approach is that apple slices tend to absorb the applied liquid (which is usually applied in the form of a bath or spray) and become "soaked" by losing its freshness and The prior art further includes the use of clear plastic covers for packaged salads or apple slices in order to reduce the amount of ambient air oxygen that reaches the surfaces of sliced apple (see U.S. Patent Nos. 5,922,382 and 6,054,160) .This technique a-whips out the entire packaged salad (rather than sealing each cut surface), allowing the ambient oxygen in the interior react with the freshly cut apple surfaces. In addition, such clearcoats are relatively expensive and not fully airtight and allow oxygen and air to pass over time.

In fact, the prior art includes a number of genetically engineered apple tree species, in which apples have a delayed onset of browning after being cut (see U.S. Patents 4,956,779, 13,930, and U.S. Patent Application US2002 / 0053517P1). The difficulty with genetically engineered apple is that the palate does not satisfy the vast majority of consumers who approve the palate of varieties known as Fuji, Granny Smith, Delicious and a number of other types of apple. The prior art includes U.S. Patent No. 4,007,676, assigned by the assignee of the present application. The '676 patent teaches an apple cutter to cut wedge-shaped apple slices. The blades have a thickness of approximately 0.05 cm (0.020 inches) (or 500 microns) and are tensioned by a pair of screws (see column 9, lines 48 to 69). Applicants have found that simply tensioning the blade with the tensioning screws of the '676 patent is insufficient when using blades finer than 500 microns. The problem addressed by the present invention is how known apple varieties can be cut and packaged so as to delay the onset of browning, while preserving their freshness and flavor. The present invention significantly delays the onset of browning, while preserving its freshness and flavor. One of the fundamental aspects of the present invention is the use of a significantly thinner blade than has hitherto been used in automatic apple cutting machines. The thinner blade should be used in conjunction with a new blade tensioning and support system to resist bending, warping, and twisting as described below. The blade thickness used in the present invention is substantially equivalent to the diameter of most apple cells, i.e., less than 300 microns, and preferably about 200 microns. As shown in Figure 27, the typical apple cells are about 250 to 300 microns wide. Figure 27 is a reproduction of Figure 1 from a paper entitled "Cell Boundary Detection and Volume Approximation of Confocal Microscope Images for Quantitative Analysis of Osmotically Dehydrated Plant Tissues" available at http://www.kremer.ca/Publications or on page http://www.kremer.ca/Publications/Papers/Applespiderpaper.pd f.gz The meaning of Figure 27 is that it shows that the present invention has reduced the blade thickness to approximately the width of a typical apple cell . A reduction of such magnitude will inherently reduce the amount of damage to the apple cells caused by the cutting operation. Applicants are not aware of prior art apple slicing blades having a thickness of less than about 500 microns. As shown and described below, the use of a blade having a thickness of 200 microns cuts off or breaks less than half of the cells that are cut or ruptured by a 500 micron thick blade of the prior art. The mower or butt of the finer blade is less than half a blade with 500 microns in thickness. Reduction in the number of inherently broken or broken apple cells delays the onset of darkening by reducing the amount of oxidizable enzymes released by the cut or broken cells. The reduced volume of oxidizable enzymes is neutralized by known agents applied in much smaller amounts than those used in prior art apple cutters, thereby avoiding "soggy" apple slices, while preserving their freshness and crisp appearance. In addition, significant economy is realized by using a smaller volume of sealer and / or neutralizing agents.

It has been found that the use of a significantly thinner blade than that used in prior art automatic apple cutters requires the use of a new and robust hook buckle holder to the outer end or outer ends of each blade along with a adjustable tensioning of blade, described below, in detail. The support and tensioning of each blade prevents the blade from twisting, flexing or stepping as the cut is made. It is a critical issue to avoid twisting, folding or warping the blade since these blade movements greatly increase cell damage and generally result in apple slices with distorted and unacceptable surfaces.

A first embodiment of the present invention utilizes a plurality of generally V-shaped blades having flaps folded at the outer ends or at the leg ends of each blade, wherein each blade is independently supported and tensioned. The apex (or "inner end") of each V-shaped blade is supported by a central hub; the folded flaps formed at the two outer ends of the blade are rigidly connected to and supported by a hook buckle in order to strengthen the blade. Further, each hook buckle is preferably "caught" between two surfaces of the outer blade support ring in order to prevent rotation of the hook buckles, thereby further tightening the blades. An adjustable tensioning device is used to move or drag the hook buckle in a radially outward direction or out of the inner hub or blade apex toward the ring of its outer blade bearing.

In a second embodiment, a plurality of single blades extend between a central or inner hub and an outer, cylindrical blade support ring. Both ends of the blade are firmly and rigidly supported. The outer ends of each blade are connected to a hook buckle, as briefly noted above, and each hook buckle is, in turn, adjustablely mounted to the outer blade support ring of the tensioning blade. Each blade is separated and independently tensioned from the outside of the outer blade support ring.

A basic goal is to provide a machine to cut apples automatically, which minimizes damage to apple cells and delays the onset of browning, while preserving its freshness and flavor.

A further object is to provide an automatic apple cutting apparatus in which a significantly thinner blade is used in comparison to the prior art apple cutters and in which a thinner blade is supported and tensioned in order to minimize and / or eliminate folding of the blade and minimize damage to apple cells.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description and drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the cutter assembly of the present invention; Figure 2 is an exploded view of the assembly shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the V-shaped blades and the hook buckle used in the cutter shown in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is an exploded view of the V-shaped blade and the hook buckle shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a top plan view of the blade and the hook buckle shown in Figure 3; Figure 6 is a plan view of the circle portion of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a perspective view of the V-shaped blade shown in Figure 3, without the attached hook buckle; Figure 8 is a plan view of the blade shown in the perspective view of Figure 7; Figure 9 is a side elevational view of the blade shown in Figures 7 and 8; Figure 10 is an approximate view of the saw blade design used in the blade shown in Figures 3 and 7; Figure 11 is a perspective view of the hook plate, a hook buckle component; Figure 12 is an exploded view of the inner blade support hub shown in Figure 2; Figure 13 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a plurality of three single blades are used; Figure 14 is an exploded view of the embodiment shown in Figure 13; Figure 15 is a plan view of the inner blade support hub 30 illustrating a "wedge catch" design of the first blade support means; Figure 16 is an approximate view of the circumferential portion of Figure 15; Figure 17 is a perspective view of the inner blade support hub of Figure 14; Figure 18 is a close-up view of an alternative internal blade holder medium utilizing a "conical head lock" design; Figure 19 is a perspective view of a third assembled embodiment of the present invention utilizing a split-hub design as a first alternate blade support means; Figure 20 is an exploded view of Figure 19; Figure 21 is a perspective view of the inner support hub of the embodiment shown in Figures 19 and 20; Figure 22 is a plan view of the inner support hub shown in Figure 21; Figure 23 is a sectional view on line 23-23 of Figure 22; Figure 24 is a plan view of the third embodiment of the present invention shown in Figures 19 and 20; Figure 25 is a sectional view on line 25-25 of Figure 24; Figure 26 is a sectional view on line 26-26 of Figure 24; and Figure 27 is a reproduction of an image of apple cell walls dyed with methylene blue.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figures 1 to 11 illustrate a first embodiment of an apple cutter assembly 10 of the present invention. Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fully assembled cutter 10 and Figure 2 is an exploded view.

It is to be understood that the cutter assembly 10 is used in conjunction with an apple guiding, nucleating and cutting machine as shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,007,676, incorporated by reference herein as if presented in its entirety. In the interest of brevity, the aspects of orientation, transport and nucleation of the apparatus are not repeated here. Some up-to-date versions of the apparatus (not pertinent to the cutter assembly) of the '676 patent are available from the Atlas Pacific Engineering Company of Pueblo, Colorado, and are not repeated herein.

As shown in Figures 1 to 11, in which each reference numeral used refers to the same feature in each figure, an outer blade holder ring 20 is provided, and an inner hub 30 is preferably positioned in the center of the formed circle by the ring 20.

A circular array of blades 40 extends from the inner blade support hub 30 in the outer radial direction toward the cylindrical outer blade support ring 20. Each of the plurality of blades 40 is a strip of single resilient material and continuous, preferably stainless steel, with a thickness "t" (see Figure 6) of less than 300 microns, preferably in the range of 180 to 220 microns. Blades finer than 200 microns may be used with the hook buckle blade holders of the present invention. Applicants believe that the blade thickness can be reduced to 100 microns and possibly less than 100 microns using the present invention. Each blade has a width "w" (see Figure 9), preferably between 1.14 and 1.27 cm (0.45 and 0.50 inches). Width "w" may range from 0.125 inch to 2.54 cm (1.0 inch), without any limitation. Each of the blades 40 is planar, and each blade is aligned parallel to the axis A-A (Figure 2), which is parallel to the direction in which the apples move through the blade assembly 10, as is known in the art.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 11, the assembly 10 includes six generally V-shaped blades, similar to 41 to 46. The V-shaped blade 44 is shown in detail in Figures 3 to 10. The blade 44 has a first and second legs 44a and 44b, respectively, which form an apex angle x. The apex angle x varies, but, in the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 11, the angle x is 30 °. The blade 44 has upper and lower edges 44c and 44d; the upper edge 44c is preferably sawed and the lower edge 44d is flat.

As best shown in Figures 4, 7 and 8, each leg 44a and 44b has a folded flap 44m and 44n, respectively. The folded flaps 44m and 44n are preferably made by folding the ends of the two-fold blade 44, a 180 ° fold shown with the reference numerals 44t and 44u, and a 75 ° fold at the tips 44r and 44s of the legs 44m, 44n. The flaps 44m and 44n are folded and folded flaps of two layers, rigidly connected to the hook buckle means 60 described below. It is within the scope of the invention to use a single flap of a single layer, but the preferred embodiment is shown in Figures 1 to 11. The folded flaps 44m and 44n have the same width "w" as the width of the legs 44a and 44b. The hook buckle means 60 is best shown in Figures 3 to 6. Each hook buckle 60 includes a blade hook 61 (Figure 11), having a flat body 62, two 180 ° folded ears 63, 64, and a passage 65 extending through the body 62. The ears 63, 64 are dimensioned so as to slidably engage the flaps 44, 44, respectively, of the blade 44 (see Figure 4). The hook buckle means 60 further includes the buckle 68 having a flat body 69, top and bottom flanges 71 and 72, respectively, and a passageway 74 formed in the body 69. The purpose of the buckle 68 is to help strengthen and stiffen the last link between the hook buckle 60 and the blade 44. When the hook buckle 60 is mounted (see Figures 3, 5 and 6), the top and bottom flanges 71, 72 of the buckle 68 extend through the blade hook 61, and through the flaps 44m and 44n. Angle welds are applied in at least eight places in order to penetrate the upper and lower edges 44r, 44s of the 44mm flanges, 44n, the hook block 61 and the flanges 71, 72 of the buckle 68. Two of the welds of angles 75 and 76 are shown in Figure 6. Two welds are made on the bottom flange at the same location of the welds 75, 76. Four similar angle welds are made on the flap 44n folded. The result is a sturdy, rigid connection for strengthening the legs 44a, 44b of the blade 44, and greatly increasing the blade resistance 44a to flexing, folding and warping, especially after the blade is tensioned as described below. The blade tensioning means 80 is shown partially in Figure 2 and partially in Figure 4. The tensioning screws 81 through 86 extend through passages 81a through 86c (of which passages 81a through 83a are visible in Figure 2) formed in the outer blade support ring 20. The tensioning screws screws 81 through 86 extend through the passages 74 and 65 (Figure 4) formed in the buckle 68 and the hook block 61 and threadably engages the nuts 81b to 86b (only the nuts 84b and 85b being visible in Figure 2), which are rigidly attached (preferably by welding or cold forming) and loaded through each hook buckle 60. The nut 84b is shown in exploded form in Figure 4. It is important to note that the outer blade support ring 20 includes a smooth, circumferential band 21, a bottom flange 22 to strengthen the strip 21, and an inner shoulder or seat 23. The buckles hook 60 are seated with When the top ring 24 is applied over the hook buckles 60 and secured in its assembled position of Figure 1, in which it locks against the shoulder 23, the hook buckles 60 are "captured" "between the bottom flange 22 and the top ring 24, i.e. the top and bottom flanges 71, 72 have a minimum clearance (about 0.005 cm) (about 0.002 inches) from the top ring 24 and the bottom flange 22, respectively. The hook buckles thereby are retained and prevented from rotating, maximizing the stiffness of the connection between each hook buckle 60 and each blade 41 to 46. The stiffness of this connection is significantly greater than the connection obtained by US Pat. 007 676 by bolts 968 and 969 described in that patent. Such screws (i.e., screws 968 and 969) achieve prior art sheet tensioning but provide only limited resistance to folding and twisting of the prior art slats. It is important to note that while each hook buckle means 60 is loaded by the outer support ring 20 and is captured between the bottom flange 22 and the top ring 24, the hook buckles are free to slide in the radially inner direction and while the blades are tensioned. The inner blade support hub 30 preferably positioned in the center of the ring 20 is shown in Figures 2 and 12. The embodiment shown in Figures 2 and 12 includes a first blade support means which comprises a plurality of pins 31 a 36. The pins 31 to 36 are firmly anchored in the lower hub 37 and the upper hub 38. The pins 31 through 36 extend along the apex of each blade 41 through 46 and stay in contact over the full width of both legs of each blade as shown by pin 34 in Figure 5. Pins 31-36 attach to the apex of each blade, blade tensioning means 80 stresses the outer ends of each blade 41 to 46 against pins 31 to 36, respectively. Pins 31 through 36 extend across the width of each blade, and provide maximum resistance to folding, twisting or warping the blades.

Figures 13 to 17 illustrate a second embodiment of the present invention. Figure 13 is a perspective view of a fully assembled cutter 110, and Figure 14 is an exploded view. The main difference between the second embodiment shown in Figures 13 to 17 and the first embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 12 is that the second embodiment uses a plurality of three single blades 141 to 143, unlike the "double" V-shaped blades 41 to 46 of the first embodiment. The dual V-shaped blades 41 through 46 of the first embodiment make two wedge-shaped apple slices per blade, while the single blades 141 through 143 will create the same number of wedge-shaped apple slices as there are blades. A minor difference is the design of the inner hub 130 and the first blade support means described below.

Each of the three blades 141 through 143 has a final end 141a to 143a attached to the inner hub 130. Figure 16 shows in more detail the inner end 141a of the blade 141. The inner end 141a is formed with a folded flap 141m folded 180 So as to fold back against the blade 141. The blades 142 and 143 have similarly folded flaps formed at their inner ends. The inner hub 130 has a series of blade wedge slots 131 to 133 formed therein in order to receive and support the blades 141 to 143 and the flap folded over each blade. The wedge slot 131 includes a first slit or passage 131a that slidably accommodates the blade 141 and an enlarged aperture or passage 131b that slidably lodges the folded flap 141m. When the blade 141 is tensioned, the folded flap 141m abuts against the tapered surface 131c of the slit 131. The tapered surface 131c forms an obtuse angle with the blade 141. The slot 131 and the tapered surface 131c extends through the entire blade width "w" of the blade 141 and provides a rigid support against folding, twisting and warping the blade 141. The slot 131 and the folded flap 141m comprise the "first blade support" according to the claims. The hook buckle means 160 is the same as the hook buckle 60 described above, and is not described in detail herein for brevity. The three hook buckles 160 used in the assembly of three single blades 110 are all "caught" between the lowermost flange 122 and the top ring 124 of the cylindrical outer support ring 120, thereby being prevented from rotating in order to allowing the blades 141 to 143 to bend, twist or warp. Figure 18 shows a "tapered headlock" slot 139, which becomes a variation of the "wedge" slot 131 of Figure 17. The "tapered headlock" slot 139 includes a first slot or passage 139a which slidably accommodates blade 141, and an enlarged aperture 139b that slidably lodges the folded flap 141m. The sloping surface 139c makes an acute angle formed by the inclined surface 139c (Figure 18) with the blade 141. The "conical head lock" slot 139 and the folded flap 141 m constitute the "first blade support" within of the claims.

Figures 19 to 23 illustrate a third embodiment of the present invention. The cutter assembly 210 has only a single significant difference with respect to the assembly 10 shown in Figures 1 to 11. The difference is that the inner hub 230 is "slotted" with 12 notches 231 to 242 in order to house the 12 legs of 6 V-shaped blades 241 to 246. A circular recess 271 is formed in the inner hub 230 so as to slidably receive the apex of each of the V-shaped blades 241 to 246. The slotted hub 230 forms the " blade carrier "in the appended claims.

Figures 24 through 26 illustrate cross-sectional views of the cutter of the third embodiment 210. Figure 26 shows in cross-sectional view how the tensioning means 280 draws the hook buckle 260 out of the inner hub 230 and toward the ring of outer support 220. Lower flange 222 and top ring 224 are shown "capturing" the hook buckle 260 so as to support it and prevent it from rotating. Figure 25 further illustrates how the top and bottom flanges 271, 272 of the hook buckle 260 are contacted by and captured by the lower flange 222 and the top ring 224 of the outer support ring 220 in order to prevent the hook buckle 260 rotate, thereby maximizing the resistance of the blade 241 to folding, twisting and warping.

The blades 41 through 46, 141 to 143 and 241 to 246 are preferably toothed. The toothed cutout may include a number of bevel designs as known in the art. The notched nature of the blades helps to minimize the number of cells ruptured during the cutting operation. It is important to note that the hook buckle means 60, 160 and 260 are designed to work with any toothed blades, as shown, or with flat toothed blades. Figure 27, as cited above in the Brief Description of Drawings section, is a microscopic image of apple cells dyed with methylene blue. The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or limit the invention to the precise form presented. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. Modes have been chosen and described in order to better explain the principles of the present invention and their practical application to thereby enable other persons skilled in the art to better utilize the present invention in various embodiments and with various modifications suited to a particular contemplated use. The scope of the present invention should be defined by the following claims.

Claims (7)

Apparatus for cutting apples automatically into a plurality of wedge-shaped segments, said apparatus having a circular array of blades, characterized in that: said circular blade arrangement (40) is composed of a plurality of blades Each blade (44) includes first and second legs (44a, 44b) and an apex having an apex angle (x) formed between the first and second legs, and includes first and second prongs ( 44r, 44s) respectively at the ends of the first and second legs, and first and second folded flaps (44m, 44n) formed at the tips of each of said legs, each of said blades (41-46) and said folded flaps is a a single continuous stainless steel strip, each of said stainless steel blades having a thickness of less than 300 microns, and further comprising: a hook buckle means (60) for each of said V-shaped blades (41); -46) for rigidly connecting said plugs first and second folded flaps (44m, 44n) of each blade with the others, wherein said hook buckle means includes a hook plate (61) extending between the first and second folded flaps, a buckle (68) supporting said hook plate 61, and also includes a rigid connection between said folded flap and said hook plate, an outer support ring 20 for holding each of said hook buckle means 60, wherein each of the buckle and hook means is free to move radially inwardly or outwardly but is prevented from performing further movements by said outer ring, an inner hub (30) supporting each of said blades at the apex formed the first and second legs (44a, 44b) and a blade tensioning means (80) connecting each of said buckle and hook means (60) to said outer support ring (20), wherein the actuation of one such blade tensioning means causes one such buckle and hook means (60) to move radially inwardly or outwardly. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said first and second folded flaps (44m, 44n) is doubly folded, and wherein each of said hook plates (61) has folded ears (63 , 64) to slidably engage each of said doubly folded flaps. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the thickness of each of said V-shaped blades is between 180 microns and 220 microns. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said blades are serrated. Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said connecting means consists of angle welds (75, 76). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said inner hub (30) comprises a plurality of pins (31-36), each of said pins supporting the apex of one of the blade-shaped blades V (41-46). Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said hook buckle means (60) includes a body with top and bottom flanges (71, 72), and wherein said flanges extend through top and bottom of said hook plate (61).